Global Journal of HUMAN-SOCIAL SCIENCE: F Political Science Volume 14 Issue 6 Version 1.0 Year 2014 Type: Double Blind Peer Reviewed International Research Journal Publisher: Global Journals Inc. (USA) Online ISSN: 2249-460x & Print ISSN: 0975-587X Neo-Liberal Globalization, The State and Conflicts: Some Remarks on Sub- Sahara Africa By Adeniyi S. Basiru University of Lagos, Nigeria Abstract- This article interrogated, in theoretical cum descriptive fashion, the linkage(s) between neo-liberal globalization, the state, the arena of politics and conflicts, using sub-Sahara Africa as a research backdrop. Drawing from secondary data sourced mainly from textbooks and journals; and leaning on dependency theoretical platform, it found out that neo- liberal globalization has affected states in the global system differentially. While the developed states of the north had developed various strategies to deal with the enigma and had even made huge success of it, the dependent, post-colonial states in Africa have been at the mercies of this technologically driven post- cold war phenomenon. Merciless, it argues that globalization has dented the integrity of these states in manner that made them to lose legitimacy in the eyes of citizens under their confines. The outcome of such state of affairs was the relocation of legitimacy from them to the sub-state movements, which, in most cases, have now become the new sites of conflicts in the region. Keywords: globalization, conflicts, the state, legitimacy, integration. GJHSS-F Classification : FOR Code: 360199 NeoLiberalGlobalizationTheStateandConflictsSomeRemarksonSubSaharaAfrica Strictly as per the compliance and regulations of: © 2014. Adeniyi S. Basiru. This is a research/review paper, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Neo-Liberal Globalization, The State and Conflicts: Some Remarks on Sub- Sahara Africa Adeniyi S. Basiru Abstract- This article interrogated, in theoretical cum As Rotberg (2004:8) opines‘the inability to build national descriptive fashion, the linkage(s) between neo-liberal commonwealth of like minds has tended to generate globalization, the state, the arena of politics and conflicts, inter-group animosities and by extension primordial using sub-Sahara Africa as a research backdrop. Drawing tensions and conflicts which has grown in intensity since from secondary data sourced mainly from textbooks and after the Second World War’. journals; and leaning on dependency theoretical platform, it 2014 found out that neo- liberal globalization has affected states in One question logically flows from Rotberg’s the global system differentially. While the developed states of opinion,namely: can the prevalence of internal conflicts Year the north had developed various strategies to deal with the in sub-Sahara Africa be solely explained from the enigma and had even made huge success of it, the perspectives of the internal structures of 37 dependent, post-colonial states in Africa have been at the states?Obviously, the reality of the post-cold war mercies of this technologically driven post- cold war neoliberal globalization seems to have relegated the phenomenon. internal structure thesis to the background,this writer is Merciless, it argues that globalization has dented the of the view that given the post-cold war reality, the thesis integrity of these states in manner that made them to lose cannot adequately describe and explain the dynamics legitimacy in the eyes of citizens under their confines. The outcome of such state of affairs was the relocation of and the prevalence of intra-state conflicts in sub-Sahara legitimacy from them to the sub-state movements, which, in Africa in the cold war era. most cases, have now become the new sites of conflicts in the As Nabudere (2000) and Ninsin (2001) argue, region. the post-cold war global politico–economic architecture The article recommended two action areas for and the forces of transnationalization it unleashes have reversing the trends. First, at the national level, the state, the continued to downsize the duties of the Westphalia state epicentre of the socio-economic space, needs to be in economic management. In fact, Ake (1995), Rodrick reconstituted. It is expected that a genuinuely democratic (1997) and Toyo (2002) concur with Nabudere when nation-states could serve as building blocks for continental ) they aver that globalization has increased national and integration. Second, sub-Sahara African states must move the F local inequalities within states but has also dented the ( integration process beyond rhetoric. Volume XIV Issue VI Version I Keywords: globalization, conflicts, the state, legitimacy, integrity of the state mainly in the south. integration. At this juncture, a question is apt: if neo-liberal globalization has downsized the strength of the state, I. Introduction does that predisposes it to conflicts? or put differently, is there a theoretical linkage between globalization,the The end of the cold war has witnessed an - state and conflicts? This paper intends to answer these upsurge in intra- state conflicts in Africa with very low questions in the light of sub-Saharan Africa’s experience incidence of inter-state conflicts. Most of these and in order to set about achieving thistask; the paper is conflicts assumed peculiar characteristics by nature of organized as follows: The first section sets the their localization. They challenge regional security and background to the study. Section two lays the stability more than they pose a threat to global conceptual frameworks for the paper.The third section security as would have seen the case during the cold examines the post-cold war global politico-economic war era (Tamuno, 1991, p.2). architecture and its bearing on Africa. Section four, in an he above statement by one of Nigeria’s analytical cum discursive manner, connects foremost Historian, captures the realities of the globalization, the stateand conflicts in sub-Sahara T post-cold war sub-Sahara Africa: the prevalence Africa. The fifth sectionconcludes the paper with a Global Journal of Human Social Science of intra-state conflicts. To some observers and number of recommendations. commentators, the state in sub-Sahara Africa is at the centre of these crises (read Williams, 2004; Stedman, II. Conceptual and Theoretical Issues 1996). To be more specific, the state in this turbulent Concepts are of fundamental importance in region seem to have failed in creating national seeking knowledge, in guiding inquiry and in expressing community from the different groups that composed it. knowledge. Indeed, our perceptions provide a basis for Author : Ph. D Candidate, Department of Political Science, University of conceptions and once conceptions have been Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria. e-mail: [email protected] developed, we are more likely to see what they name ©2014 Global Journals Inc. (US) Neo-Liberal Globalization, The State and Conflicts: Some Remarks on Sub- Sahara Africa (Van Dyke, 1960:64) Therefore, when a knowledge phases, while it has produced and sustained seeker,like this writer, perceives a new pattern or a new incredible underdevelopment in the third world. phenomenon and gives it a name, or creating a new The fact that imperialism has produced global concept, many other become aware of its existence. inequality, whether in its current phase of globalization Concepts must of course be defined in order to or mercantilism of old, is no longer in dispute. To be give clarity to them. As Rubin and Babbie (1989) notes: sure, imperialism under the guise of neoliberalism had ‘we specify what we mean when we use particular terms continued unabashedly to reproduce the same pattern for the purposes of facilitating their contextual of unequal development (Amuwo, 2009), In real terms, operationalization and comprehension’. Hence, in this globalization, in its present epoch, represents another paper, the concepts of globalization, the state and round of unequal exchange between the North and the conflict are identified as conceptual frames of reference South. As it will soon be made clearer, the neo-liberal but because they are essentially contested concepts onslaught against African political economies in the past (see Gallie, 1962). Thus, rather than dissipitating much three decades has almost everywhere incapaciated the neo-colonial state, jeopadized its perfomance legitimacy 2014 energies on conceptualizing these concepts, this paper adopts a framework that links the three concepts and emptied it of its content. Year analytically. In terms of analysis, the conceptual linkage To be more specific, the penetrating influence of contemporary neo-liberal globalization has not only between globalization, the state and conflicts in sub- 382 Sahara Africa would be better explained within the delegitimize the state in Africa but has also exercabated dependency paradigm in international economic human insecurity which ultimately promote conflicts. In relations. fact, this reality has been recognized by all the actors in The dependency theory, like all other structural the international system including some of the frameworks in international economic relations, seeks to custodians of the lopsided arrangement (Clinton,2007). explore the process of integration of the periphery into It is in this paradigmaticcontext